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Phil is talking about cattle Ranching, these found in diary form.
The spring grass northward league by league over the thousand-mile-long Texas trail to the plains and foothillseast of the Big Horns, from the Platte River to the Yellow-stone and beyond, where they took on weight and couldbe readily marketed at a profit if everything went just =right. From 1899 to 1914 Mr. Spear made a trip nearlyevery year to Texas and Old Mexico, buying longhorns and shipping them to his Wyoming ranches.
Wyoming winters played an important part in the livestock industry. "During the winter of 1879 and 1880the snow fell three feet deep and all the cattle had to be fed," said Mr. Spear. "There was no hay for the horses.They went high up on the south side of the mountain where the grass was good and the side of a mountain steep So they could paw snow down the hill. I was in snow shoes for eleven days as the only way I could get to them wason my snow shoes. I would get off my snow shoes andstand up against the snow where they were pawing andthe top of the snow would be even with the top of myoveralls. We had no loss, but the horses in level or rolling country were about 20% loss.
The winter of 1898 was good until January 17. A wet snow started and then it turned cold about the 21st.The lower wire of the fence went out of sight between Big Horn and Sheridan the 23rd, and I never saw it againfor sixty-seven days. 35 degrees below was the warmest morning we had for two weeks. 54 below was the coldest.One day it was 40 below at noon. We had a few warm days about March 1. The rest of the time it was below freezing all day and below zero mornings.
April 1st there came a blizzard that killed a great many cattle."There was very little rain and lots of grasshoppers in the summer of 1919. By September there was not a thing left for the cattle to eat. We started gathering andshipping all the cows, heifers, and young steers to Texas where they had an abundance of range.Part of these went o Lubbock, Texas, and part of them went to El Paso and hen east to the Sierra Blanca mountains. These wintered very good and out of 16,500 shipped, all were brought backbut about 185 head. The strongest cattle that were kept up here were wintered on sagebrush and cotton seed cakes.
Then; was not much loss. The cattle that went to Texas cost about $17 per head for transportation to Texas andback and the pasture and expense while there. The cattle that were wintered and fed here cost about $27 per head.
"The winter of 1921 and 1922 was about as severe as any we've ever had. We could not ship the cattle toTexas as there was a drouth there and no feed, so we shipped in hay here from both East and West and winteredthem through with a big loss with about $20 per head expense."
n 1915 the Spear Brothers dissolved partnership, and Willis Spear organized the Spear-Zimmerman CattleCompany, which later became the Spear-Faddis Company.In 1920-21 Mr. Spear disposed of his interests in the
Spear-Faddis outfit to Mr. Faddis
In 1922 Mr. and Mrs. Spear launched into "dude" ranching at their Big Horn ranch. The well-groomed
of the landscaped grounds with four lakes surrounded by clumps of flowering shrubbery made one
think of what he might see on Long Island Sound, instead of in "The Wild and Woolie West."ince the ranch was sold in 1930 to Edward Moore, Senior, the "dude" ranching has been carried on on top of
the Big Horn Mountains at the (Spear-O) Wigwam. In1924 Mr. Spear had a Council Lodge built as nearly like
an Indian wigwam as possible. The Wigwam was builtforty feet in diameter, eight-sided, with a cement floor,
in the center of which was placed a large fire pit. The roof was left open at the peak for the smoke to rise in
true teepee fashion. This building is the center of attraction, and nightly the crowds gather around the camp fire
for singing and telling stories. The guests sleep to the music of rushing water in roomy cabins of peeled logs
along the creek. The increasing popularity of the Wigwam has recently made it necessary to increase the
entertainingspace. The completed building is in the form of a Spear-O.
The shaft and head of the spear extend from the original
Wigwam, which forms the 0.
In 1925 Mr. Spear formed a partnership with P. J.Mo Morgan of Cleveland, which is known as the Spear-Morgan Livestock Company. They bought the Doc Spear ranch out. Written by Phil Spear.
He was the last Spear owner of the Dude Ranch but he continued with his ranch
. (JoAnn adds personal observation, they were our “next door” neighbors and helped each other with the cattle. Hi is the only one we had ever seen able to “able to “roll you own” cigarette and strike a match and light it in a wind storm. Many times he was at full gallop bending a reluctant steer). MORE DUDE RANCHING SOON.
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Montana State Administrator Jo Ann Boyd Scott
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